On firing up my inbox today, i was intrigued to see an email from MS informing me, "Your online community contributions have been recognized by Microsoft". I assume that this must be in recognition of my activity on the MSDN forums and its nice to receive acknowledgment for it.
However, my involvment in the forums stems from an enjoyment of knowledge sharing and helping others with problems even if you don't have any form of relationship with them. In my jobs, i love working in teams and helping people develop their skills and its a great feeling when you all pull together, share information, bounce ideas and solve a problem as a team. Its just something that floats my boat, pure and simple. Jonathan Kehayis has written a great article on the subject of mentoring and its something i can certainly relate to.
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/archive/2010/09/03/the-importance-of-a-mentor.aspx
Of course, there is a second side to the coin when working the forums and that is strengthening my own knowledge. Seeing some of the great/creative ways of solving problems that many of my peers frequently demonstrate is both inspiring and educational. It also helps to revisit some of the concepts that I know but haven't put in practice in a while (SQL Server moves so fast its tough even to tread water!!).
I'd recommend anybody to spend time in the SQL Server forums. They are a fantastic source of information and I think a superb way of getting to know the product and how it is used in real life scenarios. You just can't get that information from a book.
Congratulations Rich and Keep going with the great work!
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